The Internet (World Wide Web) is a valuable resource that provides vast amounts of information to users. Web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, are applications that allow users to access information over the Internet. Most web browsers allow a user to specify a home page that is the web site or local file that is automatically loaded when a web browser starts. Typically, a user will specify the web site that is of greatest interest as his or her home page. In this manner, each time the browser is initiated by the user, the user will automatically see the specified home page.
For web sites that are frequently visited by a user, the user will typically be most interested in the portions of a web page that have changed since a prior visit. Thus, a number of techniques exist for determining when previously visited pages have changed. For example, the “Check and Get” web monitoring system (http://activeurls.com/en) can monitor specified web sites for changes and updates, and present the changed contents to a user. Generally, the user is notified of the changes by an email. Really Simple Syndication, also known as Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary (RSS), is another method that users can employ to track and manage changes to websites. A user subscribes to the RSS feed of a site. When a change is detected, the browser indicates the update to the user. The user is presented with a list of articles, posts, and responses from the site.
While such tools have greatly improved the ability of users to easily and efficiently access information over the Internet, a number of limitations exist, which if overcome, could further improve the efficiency and utility of web browsers. For example, an email notification of changes to a web page tends to be ineffective, given the number of new emails per day for a typical user. In addition, user action is still required to actually view any changed pages. Likewise, the ability to define only a single home page is often insufficient for most users. In addition, subscribing to RSS feeds also has limitations. The user must manually view the change listed in the feed; depending on the RSS reader used, the user may manually set the update as Read or Delete.
A need therefore exists for improved techniques for accessing information over the Internet. A further need exists for methods and apparatus for managing a plurality of home pages for a user.